ramblings of an entrepreneurial madman

My birthday is Feb 24th and I can’t believe I’m turning 30. It feels like just the other day I was partying at college just enjoying life and ever since graduating I’ve been fighting for my financial survival. If there is anything I’ve learned in the past 7 years, it’s that this shit isn’t supposed to be easy. If it were, then we’d have an entire nation of rich-ass motherfucker’s who don’t appreciate their wealth.

We’re dropping some money on a big marketing campaign and I hope to fucking God this is the “one” because we’ve tried so much shit – none of which has worked. I just want that phone to blow up so I can know for a fact; it’s happening, it’s going to work…

This past weekend the Giants won the Superbowl and I’m a diehard fan so I was stoked about that! The only problem was that I ended up drinking way to much and I’m trying to watch my budget, so for the rest of this month I have to keep a tighter lid on my shit.

Anyways, goals for February!! Well first off, we need to get the damn phone ringing. I guess that’s the most important thing right now because if we can do that, the deals will come. I’d like to have almost 10 deals total by the end of the month but I’m not sure about that. Who knows though. If this marketing push we’re doing this week works out, it very well may happen.

It looks like my goal of being a legitimate millionaire by the time I’m 30 was an epic failure but if it occurs in the next year or two I won’t complain too much, I just need to see something positive here. I’ve lost count of how many things I’ve tried that didn’t work out. I’m sick and fucking tired of it.

Wow I suck at blogging and lately I just haven’t been inspired to write. When I do write something it’s forced and doesn’t feel organic at all and I think when I do that the writing suffers. This is only my second post for the entire month of September which is awful, but I’m happy to say that I got a lot of good shit going on in my life and I’ve been too busy or too tired to blog.

First off, I deleted my Facebook page. I’m starting this company and our goal is to launch October 1st, but I think realistically we won’t be ready until a week or two into October and I know it’s going to be a huge success. I know this, because both me and my business partner are currently bringing in a shitload of business for the company that we work for now, and if we can do it for them, we can do it for us – no question. At this point we are just getting some final things worked out and everything will be good to go. As of now the split is as follows:

Me: 33.3%

Business Partner: 33.3%

Attorney: 33.3%

We are all in this together and I’m cool with that. It’s time that I make myself millions because enough is enough with all of the bullshit I’ve been dealing with the last few years. My goal was to make my first million while I was in my 20’s. I’m going to be turning 30 this upcoming February, so I may be a bit late, but if I am on my way towards my goal I don’t think I’ll bitch and complain much. 🙂

I decided to delete my Facebook page. To be honest I wasn’t spending that much time on there but it got to the point where I started thinking to myself, “this is fucking stupid. People post the dumbest shit on here.”

Not to mention that everyone and their fucking mom is on Facebook now and I absolutely HATE doing what everyone else is doing.

Combine that with the launch of my company and I just decided to cancel my account. I don’t want clients or customers looking me up on there, and to me, millions of dollars is a hell of a lot more important then Facebook status updates.

On another note, I completely killed this month and blew production out of the water. I was put on formal notice that I had to hit a number of deals this month or my ass was gone and I fucking surpassed that shit and kept on trucking. I’m so proud of myself for being able to step up to the plate when the pressure was on and knock one out of the park. October is a new month and I’ll be starting at zero again like everyone else, however at least I know I have a job for another 30 days, and the more income I can earn and save the better. My goal is to have 10k+ in my account before I quit and I think I’ll be alright. Ideally 15k-20k would be nice.

So here’s what’s going to happen with the new company. We will start selling for it on the side. Once packages start to come in consistently, I’m going to quit with my current employer and go 100% full force. This may only take 2 weeks, or it may take 2 months, I’m not sure; but the issue with my current employer is that I wanted to quit when I was ready and not a moment sooner than that. If they fired me, I know it would have created some financial problems that I’m not ready to deal with right now.

I have to make sure I can pay my bills and put food on the table; PERIOD.

Life is good, work is good, and the business looks promising. Another meeting with the attorney tomorrow(Friday) and hopefully that meeting is a final;

“Ok we need to do this, this and this, and we are ready to go!” type meeting…

Lastly, I think after all of these years I’ve finally been able to figure out what I love to do and what really gets me motivated and inspired to work. It’s starting a business. The business could deal with anything; it doesn’t matter, but to me it’s the act of starting that business and building it, watching it grow and develop and ultimately become successful. That’s what I love to do. I’m seriously an entrepreneur in my heart and in my soul, there is no other way to describe it.

I remember when I was just a corporate bitch sitting in a cube working my ass off. I remember seeing suits walking into conference rooms and sitting down for hours at a time discussing different aspects of business and I would always think, “hmm, I wonder what they are talking about? Corporate buy out? Expansion? Promotions? Firings?” It always bothered me that I was on the outside of the glass looking in.

Now that I’m one of those guys in those meetings, discussing our organization and where it’s heading and what it can become, I’m truly happy. I like being a guy on the “inside,” a player who is part of the game and making moves; not some expendable pawn that ultimately doesn’t mean a damn thing.

That’s what makes me tick. Being a King or Queen in life’s game of chess, not a fucking pawn.

There is a clip on YouTube of Will Smith being interviewed in regards to achieving his goals and other aspirations. He said the first step in anyone’s ability to achieve their dreams is that they have to believe they can. Everyone else doesn’t matter, if you don’t truly believe, you’ll never achieve.

This week has been interesting thus far. The direct mail campaign that we ran was completely fucked because none of the information imported onto the mail pieces. The company tried saying it was my fault, when it wasn’t; the system they use is fucked. So I had the pleasure of disputing the charge on my card and they can go fuck themselves. The unfortunate thing is I would have used them repeatedly had they made good on the order. Now I won’t be using them at all.

Just goes to show how fucking stupid some people/companies are. Moving on…

The Google AdWords campaign I’ve been running has been generating the occasional lead which I think is incredible. So far I generated 3 leads. Not great, but its a fucking miracle in comparison to the results I got from my landing page experiences with my debt settlement company. I think I spent thousands on driving traffic to those pages with 0 results. It was fucking pathetic and I think it comes down to the fact that the competition was just out of control in that industry. With the thing we are doing now it’s not nearly as bad so even an idiot like me can generate a lead or two. 🙂

The newspaper ad is confirmed and hits on Saturday and it looks really good. I’m stoked to see how it does. It’s a 1/4 page ad, so its big. The only issue is that it’s in a smaller local version of the main paper in town so I’m not sure the type of response it will get. There are only 27K+ subscribers so it’s a fairly limited production. We’ll know this weekend so there is no point in me over analysing it.

The company we are working with also has some back-end issues they definitely need to correct and my business partner is planning on having a call with one of the head guys tomorrow about it. I’m confident in our ability to market and generate leads/business but they need to get their shit together before we do that.

I’m pissed our mass mailing was fucked because we cannot even use the piss-poor results as the true figures for that particular campaign’s return. The only way would be to run another mailing, but since the company that provided the mailing isn’t being reasonable, we’ll have to do a different type of mailing to that list, or use another company’s post card mailing system which means more money needs to be spent.

Right now, I’m not going to do anything with that until after our newspaper ad hits so we can see what happens there.

So in summary, things are progressing but not fast enough. We are generating leads but not nearly enough and the leads we have been generating aren’t converting yet. All of these things can be corrected with the testing and tweaking of our marketing campaigns. Lastly, the back-end company needs to show some improvement or we got some bigger problems to deal with.

Today was interesting to say the least. It went absolutely nothing like I planned. Everyday I write my daily list of things I need to get done in order to help me achieve my goals. It’s all written on a dry erase board and updated weekly. Generally it contains business tasks such as; call “so and so,” write and mail “X” amount of mailers, inquire with financier about project, etc. There are also my normal everyday chores that need to get done as well.

Anyways, I woke up this morning like I do everyday and look at my board to see how my day is planned. I then usually prepare my breakfast as my computer loads and then eat my breakfast in front of my computer while I check my emails and listen to a local rock station. I have the same routine every morning and am generally up around 6:30am-7am.

This is my actual board!

This morning when I checked my emails I had one sent from my business partner late last night(after 8pm) so I had already closed my email and did not receive it until today. It said, “lets meet tomorrow at 7:30am.” Because I didn’t get the email until about 7:20am we pushed the meeting to 8am and when we met he had some really interesting shit to say.

This past week he was looking into some job opportunities and he found something that sounded extremely promising. It deals with real estate(big surprise right!?) and it involves a niche market that no one is working right now. In fact, I highly doubt anyone would even think to work it. He is being signed on with this company as a 1099 and will begin his training next week.

The meeting we had this morning was probably several hours long and I don’t remember the last time we’ve talked like that. Both of us were bouncing ideas off of one another and it’s like we were reinvigorated. Anyways, long story short, he is going to start this job and see if there is potential. If so, then we are going to start our own marketing to generate business. Once we get our marketing down and are able to produce sales, we are going to contact the owners of the company and try to negotiate something, whether it be a much better commission spread or some sort of joint venture agreement. Everything with the company sounds good from what we were told and the research we’ve done, the only issue is that their marketing is fucked.

The company also seems to be at a crossroads so it’s a perfect opportunity for us to swoop in and make something happen. If we can fix the marketing, we will be in a position of power to negotiate something very lucrative.

I’m being vague, I know, but loose lips sink battle ships and I can’t talk specifics about this right now for obvious reasons.

In terms of current direct mail campaign, calls started trickling in today and I got 3 total with 1 actual lead. It turned out not being a good lead, but it was a lead nonetheless. I honestly havent prepared any mailers yesterday or today because I was just burnt out from hand-writing all of those fucking things and after talking to my business partner today we might be heading in a different direction anyways. The money that I would normally spend on postage for my existing campaign would probably be better spent on this new thing depending on what developes the next several weeks.

So the timeline of events is as follows:

My business partner starts training on Monday. He was told training can take upwards of a week.

We do some small test marketing campaigns to try to develop leads for him(without telling his employer what we are doing), instead we let them provide their shitty leads to him and let them believe he is only working those.

We generate good leads that my business partner ultimately converts to business

After he begins closing deals and the process has been streamlined, we contact his employer and renegotiate commission splits etc.

We both start closing deals and building revenue while increasing our marketing campaigns

As we grow, we take on an office and start a call center to field calls

We get filthy fucking rich!

Simple right?!

Anyways, the next week will be interesting in that I’ll get a chance to see how he does with the company provided leads(which we’ve already confirmed are shitty quality). Then we can run our test campaigns and see how they compare and if they are good enough to generate business. If they are, the sky’s the limit.

Bottom line with this is we are going to have to develop our own high quality leads consistently and effectively. If we can do that, we have a million dollar opportunity on our hands; no question.

Not much has changed since my last blog post. I spent the entire weekend just relaxing at my apartment. I laid by the pool a few times and got some color and did my usual weekend workouts. I got a lot of errands done and had a productive weekend for not doing any work.

Today my business partner has an appointment to get looked at by his doctor who’s going to tell him they are going to do the surgery on Wednesday or Friday. We are obviously hoping for Wednesday but it depends on what the doctor says. He really can’t do anything until he gets it taken care of and I’m trying to stay as busy as possible but there is only so much I can do until he’s 100%.

I’m continuing to pull comps and practicing my “valuation” on subject properties. There is a very strict criteria that needs to be met in order for us to invest in a subject property and you go through a lot before you find a possible deal. The more practice the better and that’s what I’ve been doing. We’re about 2 weeks behind due to his health issues but I’m not stressed about it because there is nothing I can do. It’s out of my control and one thing I’m trying to getting better at is not worrying about something that is out of my control.

Once he’s back on his feet we’ll start making offers and we’ll know if this thing is going to work or not. The marketing works great so it’s safe to think that the other aspects should work as well if we do them correctly.

One thing I forgot to mention in my last blog post was that I got a call from an investor we were working with last week. It was a guy who we thought was interested in the older investment we were offering but he never got the funds together to invest and we just eventually wrote him off and stopped contacting him. After a month of no contact he called me out of the blue and asked if I remembered him. He basically said that he still wants to invest and is committed; he is just having trouble getting the funds together. The guy is a 100% disabled veteran and it sounds like he’s starting a real estate investment fund for himself as well as other disabled veterans. Getting the paperwork, grant money, non-profit status and everything else set up has been taking time but he did say he is planning on sending his business through us and he’ll contact us when he’s ready. It was good to hear and it would be nice if we end up doing business together, but at this point I’m not holding my breath. We’ve been talking to this guy since last year.

In terms of our existing endeavors we both feel good about the overall plan and what we intend to do, but we won’t be 100% convinced until we close that first deal. At this point nothing else matters. After my business partner is healthy we cannot have anymore distractions or anything affecting our ability to hit our goal. All of our focus has to be on getting that first deal closed because once we close 1, we’ll be convinced it works and will close another, and another, and so on…

The first deal is always the hardest in any business and sales is all about momentum. Unfortunately our momentum has slowed due to my business partner’s health issues so it’s up to us to get it going again.

I’ve been looking at properties in California more and more lately and I’m really fired up to make some money. The residential housing market has pretty much bottomed out and there are steals anywhere. If I want to buy in California I will have to do it soon because there are so many deals and real estate is so expensive there. It’s providing some added motivation for me to earn some damn money so I can lay my roots somewhere and establish myself.

Will I move to California or stay here in Scottsdale? I honestly don’t know. I’m much happier here then I’ve ever been in the past but anything can happen. 1 year ago I would have said, “I’m moving,” without the slightest hesitation. Now I’m more open to things happening and I understand that sometimes things aren’t that simple. I could meet the woman of my dreams or simply have an amazing opportunity here where I am that I would be an idiot not to take advantage of; a lot can happen 8 or 9 months.

I think by the end of the year I’m going to have to seriously consider buying something though. Rental rates are astronomical and I can buy a condo for what I’m paying here in rent and my mortgage payment would be almost half.

Anyways, I’m ranting now. I hope you all have a great week and remember to stay positive and to set your goals for the week! If there is anyone bringing you down or not being supportive, cut them out of your life! Don’t surround yourself with pessimists; they are an entrepreneur’s kryptonite.

I just realized that I very rarely post on my blog at night. I’ll write quick updates in the side bar, but as far as full blown blog posts go, they typically don’t happen. I wonder why that is?

Anyways, today was a good and productive day. We achieved the main goal that we set for ourselves which I’m happy about. I also got my business partner to make something happen which is good as well. I think he was just becoming complacent and lazy because there hasn’t been much for him to do since I’ve been doing the majority of the work thus far. Also, the last 6 or so months our workload has been minimal because of the whole fiasco with our prior real estate gig. I could tell when I spoke to him that he is starting to get excited whereas before I was questioning his faith.

I think the key with him is that he has to stay busy or his mind wanders and he just bitches and complains. If he’s busy he feels things are happening and he’s going to make money. He told me on several occasions that it’s the “action” he gets addicted to more so than the paycheck. After going through these last several months together with little to no work, I can see where he is coming from.

Tomorrow our first direct mail marketing campaign hits so I’m looking forward to seeing what type of response we get. The point is to drive traffic to one of our landing pages and get subscribers, however I also put my number on there so I won’t be surprised if I get some phone calls too; the more the merrier, bring it on! 🙂

I also have a meeting scheduled with my business partner for Wednesday morning so I’m sure we’ll have a lot of discuss once that rolls around. Originally we set a goal to have a deal “pending” within 30 days (4/3/11) and I still think that’s doable. We just need to start making offers soon because we will only have 2 weeks left after this week is over. Basically, we need to get a lot done this week and make tons of progress if we want to hit our goal.

I just can’t wait until we get that first commission check with our business name written on it. It’s going to be such an amazing feeling because we’ll know it can be done and we won’t have any more doubts. We’ll also know that the sky is the limit because it then becomes a matter of simply repeating the same process. There is no question that fortunes are being made in the current real estate market and it won’t be like this forever so I just hope I make my millions while I have the chance.

I’m confident I will.

Aside from that I feel great mentally and am optimistic and positive. I just need to keep things this way and keep the momentum flowing in our favor. We just need to close that first fucking deal and I know that from that point forward we are going to turn into a beast on a rampage. It’s been so long since either of us have had a taste of some decent cash flow that once it happens we’re going to go berserk. I can just feel it.

This post is inspired by a clip I saw on YouTube of Evan Centopani. He is an IFBB professional bodybuilder on his way up in the sport. I’ve always been a fan and pulled for the guy because he is from my home state of Connecticut.

I never really wrote a lot in regards to my love for lifting weights and working out. I would briefly write, “A quick post before the gym,” or something similar but I don’t think I’ve ever taken the time to explain how much lifting weights and bodybuilding truly means to me; and how big a part of my life it has become.

I started lifting weights when I was 13 years old and I’m 29 now. So more than half my life has been spent in the gym. I’ve been alone for such a great portion of my life that bodybuilding always felt “natural” to me. It’s one of the few things that you can do, day in and day out, that isn’t a “team effort” or “team sport.” It’s 100% all on you, which is most likely why I’ve always loved it.

I lift weights religiously 5 days a week minimum and I do the whole, “frequent smaller meals” throughout the day lifestyle. I drink protein shakes daily and consider myself a regular at my gym. I enjoy my time at the gym and the people that work out there and work there. I know a lot of them on a first name basis and although I don’t really hang out with them outside of the gym I do feel a connection. Almost as if they are another family that fills the void of my actual relatives back east. It feels good when I go away for a long weekend or vacation and when I come back some of the regulars ask, “where you been bro?!” It feels good when I arrive at the gym, and the sweet girl who checks me in takes notice at what time it is and says; “wow you’re training late today huh?”

These little things, as insignificant as they may seem, really make me feel good.

The one thing that I’ve learned is that unless you live a similar lifestyle it is almost impossible to understand. People can’t understand why you rarely go out drinking or why you rather just relax at home and watch TV while eating your meals; to them it doesn’t make sense.

Although this sport has always provided a “release” for me, for which I’d say is almost totally positive, I’m not naive to the fact that there are some negative aspects associated with it. After awhile it does make you somewhat anti-social which I don’t think is a good thing. It also has a tendency to give you severe body dismorphia which isn’t good either. People tell me I’m huge and I just nod and smile because I don’t see what they see, I see someone totally different.

Granted a lot of this has to do with self-confidence and just over all body image. One thing that I’ve found surprising in myself is that I have the utmost confidence to achieve financial success and wealth; however my self confidence in my physical appearance is nowhere near the same level.

The main thing I love about working out is that you can’t fake it. It truly is a marathon, not sprint. If you see someone who is in amazing shape, you know it took years to get there with nothing but hard work and sacrifice. You will never see someone who looks like a pro bodybuilder after only 3 months or 3 years of training. It’s impossible.

I’m writing this because I’m thinking about this 1 aspect of my life(a very large one) and I’m comparing it to the career/business aspect of my life. You wouldn’t think that bodybuilding has anything even remotely to do with being an entrepreneur but there are a lot of similarities.

The hard work and dedication aspect is obviously the biggest common factor. Both take extreme amounts of perseverance and drive and both need unwavering faith in one’s ability to achieve their goals.

I’ve been lifting weights for so long and I love bodybuilding. I don’t compete but I will always train because it’s a lifestyle that chose me. It called out to me; I did not select it…

I feel the same way about being a successful entrepreneur. It called out to me…

This is the video from YouTube that inspired this post. In particular, when he starts talking in the beginning from 0:00 – 0:32 and again at 5:08.

I have faith in my abilities to make this work and to achieve my dreams of financial success. I feel like I’m getting closer as every day passes and it’s been something I’ve been working towards since graduating college in 2005. Just like in bodybuilding, it’s something that takes time and when I get that prize at the end of the race, it will be that much sweeter because I’ll know what it took to get there.